East Crossing vs West

It's not quite "jet lag"---but I still suffer from all the time zones, crossing between England and New York (or New York and England). For me, there is some "ship lag" during and after sailing transatlantic...

Here is research, suggesting traveling westward could be less stressful, which I found interesting. I thought I preferred sailing west because the time change was made during the day, but maybe there is more to it.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/sifter/why-jet-lag-worse-when-you-re-traveling-east

I think the answer is to sail both ways :)

For me, westward is always the most difficult. I also just read and article to the contrary in the NYT... So that does seem to be common wisdom.

I was wondering doing a TA roundtrip, if there was going to be any strangeness to all the hours moving about one way and then another, more days than not.

Which would you rather have, one extra hour a day on board or an hour less?

David.

For us Eastbound but we live in Hamburg.

Arriving back home without being obliged to travel further - and with no jetlag is a perfect ending of a relaxing trip.

And having 6 extra hours on board is a nice plus, too.

I'm doing a round trip transatlantic, so I was wondering how it would feel having so many time changes when I get home at the end of 16 days?

Thanks!

If you are flying one way, airport taxes eastbound are about $10 whereas eastbound they are $350+ per person. We're flying eastbound and returning westbound (and gaining the hour each day).

We've travelled both ways and find that we much prefer sailing home eastbound. We can shop until we drop in New York and if we have to buy another suitcase (:eek:) we know we won't be charged excess baggage.:D

A win-win situation for us.

We can shop until we drop in New York and if we have to buy another suitcase (:eek:) we know we won't be charged excess baggage.:D

 

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Babs I was only saying there might be some wisdom in doing it that way round for precisely that reason but we always combine the crossing with visiting friends in Maryland so if we did the visit first & bought anything there we'd still have to transport it to NY.

I have to say I enjoy the 25 hour days going to NY and arriving jetlag free so being able to make the most of our time with friends. I don't enjoy the jet lag coming home but I'm sure if I could ever sleep on a plane I wouldn't struggle so much the day after a good nights sleep.

Maybe we'll have to get our US friends to do the Christmas QM2 trip and stock up in NY then sail to the Caribbean and back across to the UK. Something to aim for :)

Tell me, are there any advantages to an Eastbound TA as opposed to the westbound? For example, suppose you prefer to dine early, but can only get the late sitting. Is it easier to adjust to the late sitting as you turn the clocks ahead on five nights? If you are flying back to NYC the same day the ship arrives in Southampton, is it easier to adjust to jet lag?

I appreciate your feedback. Please no flaming because we are not staying on in the UK. We do plenty of land trips across the pond. Thanks.

We live on the East side of the Pond and prefer to sail westbound despite the need to then fly home overnight. That bit is NEVER nice, but sailing into NY beats sailing into a grey, grim Southampton any day.

Losing an hour when travelling eastbound is weird - life is too short to 'give' an hour away whilst on holiday and I think that it feels like you lose more - especially when its 'stolen' during waking hours :) We prefer late dining, and this was particularly welcome on the eastbound crossing where even the 8.30 sitting seemed relatively early.

As for shopping - a very favourable exchange rate (??!) would be the only thing that might get me on a big shopping trip in NY. I live in London and really don't think that NY offers that much to go mad about that a savvy UK shopper couldn't get hold of..... "shipping" works both ways !! We've met loads of Brits heading to / in NY to shop who haven't even been to London. To me, that's weird.

A back to back trip solves any dilemma of jetlag and return trips - but requires the time that we just don't have. I can forgive the 'theft' of time on the eastbound return leg as I have already reaped the benefits of the extra hours on the way out!

We're thinking of doing our first Cunard cruise on the QM2 next year. We've done a westbound TA and if I remember correctly the time changes occurred while we we sleeping. Is this how happens on Cunard? Thanks.

We're thinking of doing our first Cunard cruise on the QM2 next year. We've done a westbound TA and if I remember correctly the time changes occurred while we we sleeping. Is this how happens on Cunard? Thanks.

Changes are at night westbound and I believe at lunchtime eastbound - apparently people don't like "losing" an hours sleep so doing it at midday is less noticeable.

We live in California. For us, we prefer eastbound because we arrive in Europe with little jet lag( rather than the 8-9hrs time difference). Then travel around Europe, and fly home nonstop. Then we are jetlagged for at least a week, but then we are at home. Next year we are planning to take QM2 both ways and just fly to/from NYC.

Changes are at night westbound and I believe at lunchtime eastbound - apparently people don't like "losing" an hours sleep so doing it at midday is less noticeable.

Thanks. That's what I thought. We live in New Jersey so arriving in Brooklyn, where I was born, and then getting home to New Jersey would be easy. Was thinking of flying into London for a day and then head to Southampton and use that as a base for touring an area we haven't been to before. Now I just have to decide when to go. Noticed this year that Cunard started advertising sales this spring for this summer and fall. Will have to figure out when to take a leap and book.